A Dream Birthday
by KT1972
Summary: When Jun turns 18, she hopes her teammates will make her day special...


A Dream Birthday

Jinpei stepped tentatively into Nambu's office. Ryu followed, giving the Swallow encouraging nudges forward.

Nambu looked up at the pair, before closing the document he was reading. "So what can I do for you both?" he asked, no trace of irritation or annoyance in his voice from the interruption.

Jinpei glanced back at his teammate, who gave him a small nod in his direction. "You know it's onechan's birthday in a couple of days, and we want to do something nice for her, but we need your help."

Nambu listened as they explained what they had in mind, then he smiled. "I'm sure I can think of something," he told them as he picked up the phone.

Jun slowly opened her eyes. Bright sunlight filtered through the curtains as she yawned and stretched, her brain rebooting with a glance of the clock, and she hugged her pillow with gleeful anticipation when the day, and the date, came back to her.

She was eighteen today.

Officially an adult, and legally allowed to vote, and get married.. and... and...

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash coming from the diner below.

Jumping out of bed, she hurriedly grabbed her dressing gown and raced to the top of the stairs, haphazardly tying the garment around her.

"Jinpei!"

"Sorry onechan." The Swallow's cheeky face appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "I dropped something, but nothing's damaged though." he added quickly.

"I hope not."

"I promise. Go get your shower, and I'll make some coffee."

"Fine, but don't let me find any mess down there."

"You won't." He disappeared, and Jun sighed as she made her way to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later Jun sat at the bar, slowly sipping the hot drink Jinpei had served her. "So what were you doing in the back earlier?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing doesn't drop stuff and make that kind of racket."

Jinpei paused while he thought of a plausible explanation. "I was stocktaking," he told her eventually.

Jun frowned. "But we did all that yesterday."

"Yeah, I know," The Swallow had to think fast, "but I found some stuff at the back of the shelf that I thought we'd missed, but it checked out on the inventory."

"Okay, fine, whatever." Jun drained her mug just in time for their bracelets to chime in unison. "G-3 here," she responded immediately, with Jinpei doing likewise.

"Just a reminder that training starts in half an hour." Their commander's voice came across loud and clear.

"Today?" Jun protested. "But I was hoping to have the day off!"

"Are you sick?" Ken sounded concerned.

"No, but it's..."

"Then you come in. Nambu wants us all to maintain our skills and fitness, so no unnecessary time off."

"Yeah, what's wrong with you today, onechan?" Jinpei was already out from behind the bar and heading to the garage. "You know when the G-man calls we gotta run!"

"Why are you so eager to go?" she grumbled as she reluctantly followed. Then a sudden thought struck her, and she smiled as she mounted her cycle.

If she had been hoping for a birthday surprise when she arrived, she was sorely disappointed. Ken was determined to put them all through their paces, and she was surprised to find her skills and fitness levels had dropped significantly since they were last active. Only Ken and Ryu were still at the top of their game.

Still, she worked hard, and by the end of the session she was aching in muscles she had forgotten she possessed as she practically limped back to the locker room for a shower.

"Jun?" Ken called her back.

"Yes?" Jun turned to face him hopefully.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking concerned.

"I'll be fine."

"I will have to report this back to Nambu. I'm going to recommend that we start back onto a full time training schedule once again."

"Is that really necessary though?"

"After what I've seen today I believe it is." Ken told her, the others clearly within earshot. "We're a four-piece group now and we have to fill in the gaps Joe has left behind, so we need to be better than we were before."

"I understand." She turned away so he couldn't see the disappointment on her face.

"And that applies to the both of you too," he addressed the Swallow and Owl, while looking specifically at Jinpei. He didn't want Jun to feel singled out."

"But aniki..." Jinpei protested, then saw the look on the Commander's face and decided to keep schtum.

Silently, they all headed for the showers.

Jun stayed under the shower longer than she normally would, allowing the steaming hot water sluice over her aching limbs and back. She couldn't remember the last time she'd hurt so much after a training session, and concluded that Ken had a point. She had let her standards slip. By the time she had dried herself and dressed, she had decided she would apologise to Ken.

As it turned out, as she went to return to her teammates, she saw them disappearing, at speed, out of the door.

"Hang about," she called after them, "Where are you going?"

"Didn't you hear?" Jinpei paused to turn around. "We're needed at Nambu's office now."

"But I didn't hear anything."

"You must have soap in your ears then, He came over our bracelets loud and clear."

Jun sighed. What a day this was turning out to be. Nevertheless, she picked up the pace and soon caught them up.

"What kept you, onechan?" Jinpei teased as they waited outside the doctor's office.

"That's enough, you two." Ken ordered as they were called in.

"Why today of all days?" Jun grumbled as Nambu gave them their instructions. The mission was a simple one, Each of them were to revisit known Galactor bases to look for any signs that they may be brought back into use.

"Why not today?" Nambu wanted to know.

"Well, I was hoping to have an easy day of things, seeing as it's my birthday and all."

"It's your birthday?"

"Happy birthday."

"You never said anything before..."

"Enough!" Nambu silenced them all. "Do you think Galactor would care about the significance of the date?"

"But Galactor is finished, we saw Katse jump into the pit of lava ourselves," she protested. "He couldn't possibly have survived that."

"You saw Katse, but it's Leader X that is the real threat. He's still alive somewhere, and what's to say he won't return and recruit an new army?" Nambu pointed out, solemnly. "Director Anderson just wants occasional check ups to reassure the Council of World Leaders that the Earth remains safe from alien invasions." He looked at the four young people in turn. "So if there are no further objections, launch the God Phoenix!"

"Roger!" The team chorused in unison as they turned to leave.

"And I pray for your success."

Jun's cycle landed on the tarmac with it's usual thud, and she quickly accelerated down the road, watching the huge warship she had just exited from disappear over the horizon. She was tasked with searching the old dinosaur museum, the base she had been taken to under the pretext of becoming a 'natural beauty' or whatever the scam had been, when she had been searching for her lost shoe. The team had unanimously decided this was for her since it was the closest to home, and easy for her to drive herself back when she had done.

She soon pulled up outside the ruined establishment, cut the engine, and began to explore.

It was very much as she had expected. The place was still in it's wrecked condition, just as they had left it all that time ago. Skeletal bodies of the goons they had dispatched still littered the ground where they fell. Jun cringed at the sight. Galactor couldn't even bother to collect their dead to give them a proper funeral. She shook her head in a weak attempt to clear the image from her mind, as she continued deeper inside.

She didn't know why she didn't just turn around and go. This place clearly housed nothing more than the rats and birds that fed from the vegetation that overran the remains of the structure. Something intuitively told her to continue, and she had learned long ago to trust her gut instinct. Treading carefully among weeds and bones, she slowly progressed through what remained of old corridors, until she came upon a sturdy looking door, seemingly still intact compared to the surroundings. Tentatively she attempted the handle, surprised when it opened with unexpected ease.

The room beyond was free from natural wilderness, and an area she had never encountered from her previous visit. There was also a humming coming from somewhere, a sound that suggested an electrical item was powered up. Taking a torch from her utility belt, she switched it on and took a good look around. Underneath the layers of dust and spiderweb, a small light blinked. Jun gravitated toward it, her instincts mingled with curiosity as she cleaned the surfaces as best she could with the tips of her cape. She soon located the power button and almost squealed with joy as the computer booted into life the glow from the monitor almost illuminating the whole room.

Brushing as much grime as she could off a nearby chair, she sat down and got to work.

"Onechan's going to be really mad when she finds out we didn't go on the mission." Jinpei mused out loud as he removed a freshly baked sponge from the oven.

"So how's she going to find out? We're not going to say anything." Ryu was stirring mayonnaise into flakes of tuna.

"Well, she might ask how we got on..."

"Look, you asked Hakase for a diversion so you could set all this up, and that is what he came up with." Ken passed a stack of buttered bread sliced across to Ryu.

"But what if she gets into any trouble? That story Hakase came up with sounded really believable, and if Galactor are reforming and..."

"It did, didn't it?" Ken agreed. "Simple yet plausible. Pretty ingenious if you ask me. And if she does get into any trouble, she'll call us on her bracelet, and we will all drop everything and go to help, just like we would in genuine battle situations."

"Yeah, it's not as if she's..." Ryu was interrupted by the diner's door being rattled. "I'll go send whoever that is away."

"Just tell them we're closed for a private function, ok Ryu." Jinpei called after him.

"Will do." Going to the door he could see a young man peering through the glass. "We're closed!" he yelled, but the guy just beckoned him to go closer. The Owl unlocked the door and opened it just a crack. "Sorry, it's booked for a private function today."

"I'm looking for someone called Joe, I think he might come here, I don't suppose you know him?"

"What do you want him for?"

"You know him then? Is he here?"

"No... I... umm, just a minute." Ryu closed the door again and went back to the kitchen. "Hey, there's someone out there looking for Joe, what do I tell him?"

"I'll see to it." Ken went to see who the guy was, and was surprised to see a familiar face. "What do you want?"

"Are you Joe?"

The question flummoxed the Eagle for a minute, then realised they had only met before while he was in birdstyle. "Yeah, that's me."

"My name's Mikhail. You looked after my mother after she was hit by a car..."

"Yes, and?" Ken pretended to know what he was talking about.

"She passed away recently, but before she died, she had bought these for you, as a token of appreciation, but you never went back. I just wanted to see you got them."

Ken took the proffered envelope and took a glance inside. "Well, thanks," he said, momentarily stunned. "And sorry to hear of your mother's passing, she was a lovely woman."

"Yes, she was, and I wish I had been a better son."

"You were there for her in the end, that's all that mattered." Ken was relieved he could finally say something with sincerity, "She loved you very much."

Mikhail nodded. "Thank you." He seemed to shift nervously on his feet. "Well, I suppose I should let you get on. It's good to finally meet you."

"Yeah, thanks, you too." Ken watched as Mikhail climbed into his car and drove away, before he locked to door and went back to the others, pulling the contents of the envelope out. "You're never gonna believe this..."

Jun walked calmly up to Nambu's desk.

He smiled as she approached, then frowned when she placed a couple of USB sticks on the table before him.

"What are these?"

"Someone at Galactor couldn't be bothered to clear their central database, so I've just done it for them, after backing up some of the information for our personal benefit of course."

The doctor was momentarily stunned. "Well this is fantastic, I really wasn't expecting you to come back with anything." He plugged one into his computer and started scrolling through files.

"Of course," Jun explained, "I deleted everything once those sticks were filled, so anything I didn't have room for is gone forever."

"I don't know how much of this will be of any use until we have gone through everything thoroughly, but it's certainly good to have. Excellent work Jun, well done."

"Thank you, Hakase." Externally, Jun remained impassive, but she was beaming inside. After the disappointments of that morning, the doctor's praise had made her day so much better. She gave her full debrief to an attentive Nambu, who merely sighed at the conclusion.

"Well, data recovery excepted, it is much as I had expected." he told her. "You can go now and enjoy the rest of your day." She turned, ready to leave but he stopped her. "You might want to take this too." From a draw he pulled out a large parcel, wrapped in patterned paper, and tied with a pink ribbon. "I figured, since you're an adult now, you might want something a little more grown up." He looked at her uniform, covered with dust and remnants of webbing stuck to her helmet, "but you may want to clean yourself up a bit before you open it."

Jun couldn't believe her eyes. Never before had Nambu acknowledged any of their birthdays. She stuttered her thanks and took the parcel up to her quarters. Once in her personal sanctum, she transmuted back into her civilian clothing, and decided she was sufficiently clean enough to see what the mystery box contained. With mounting excitement, she removed the ribbon, then carefully unwrapped the paper. The box inside was unremarkable, but when she lifted the lid, she let out a gasp. Inside, there was three tissue wrapped items, of various sizes. She picked up the smaller of the three to start with, and squealed with joy as she uncovered a small purse, It was an emerald green fabric with tiny rhinestones embedded around the clasp. She examined it inside and out, removing the paper wadding, discovering a detachable shoulder strap, and checking out the little zip pocket inside the lining. Next came a pair of strappy sandals, made with leather that was almost the same shade of green as the purse. She eagerly kicked off her shoe and put her feet inside and walked back and forth as far as the cramped quarters would allow. She wasn't surprised when they fit perfectly. Nambu would have all her measurements on file.

Once satisfied she was happy with the footwear, she turned to the final item. Considering what she had already found, she could guess what it might be, but she still held her breath in anticipation as she unfolded the garment. The emerald green strapless dress was overlaid with a floral lace of flock print roses, and a small oval cut-out cleavage that tied with a small bow. Jun held it against her as she stood before the small mirror, and seeing it stopped just above her knees. Nambu would never have chosen anything like this for her, and he would probably have a fit if he ever saw her dressed in it.

She chuckled as she replaced everything back into the box, strongly suspecting he'd sent his secretary out with his credit card, and trusted her to pick something suitable. She would have a much better idea about what an eighteen year old would prefer to get for a gift than their mentor, although, sadly, Jun couldn't imagine when she would have an opportunity to wear it, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

Tucking the box under her arm, she phoned Nambu to express her thanks as she made her way to her motorcycle. All she wanted to do now was head home and lay down for an hour or so.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ONECHAN!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUN!"

The cheers rang through her ears before she had managed to close the door behind her, along with the subsequent blowing of whistles and the explosion of streamers from party poppers.

"What is this?" Jun dropped her gift onto the nearest table as Jinpei rushed over to give her a hug.

"We wanted to do something nice for your birthday, but we couldn't afford much so we did this..." He waved his arm towards another table, filled with plates of sandwiches, chips and dips and a variety of other finger foods. In the centre of the table was a crudely frosted cake with 'Happy 18th Birthday' shakily piped on top.

"You did this for me?" She suddenly felt overwhelmed and sat on the closest chair to take it all in.

"Well yeah, onechan, it is your eighteenth birthday after all, we wanted to do something special for you."

"That's right," Ryu agreed, "and we wanted it to be a surprise too."

"Well it's a wonderful surprise." Jun went over and hugged them both. "Thank you." She looked around, noticing for the first time that someone was missing. "Isn't Ken here?"

"He was supposed to be," Jinpei began.

"But someone came to the door, and he had to rush off somewhere," Ryu finished.

"I hope he isn't in any trouble..." Jun was concerned for her friend.

"Nobody is getting into any trouble." A voice from behind them made them jump.

"Oh, you are here!" Jun went over to hug Ken. "I was beginning to think you were still cross with me about this morning's training session."

Ken chuckled. "No, that's done with now. So you're a little out of practice, but we will soon have you up to speed again, and I wouldn't dream of missing such an important event."

"So what's with the threads, aniki?" Jinpei wanted to know. "You're dressed like Hakase!"

"What these?" Ken indicated the shirt and suit jacket he'd changed into. "Oh, just for a little surprise I have lined up for the birthday girl. I'll explain more after we eat. I'm famished."

That was the cue to get the party started. Ryu put some music on from the jukebox and the guys sang and cheered as Jun blew out the candles on her cake. The afternoon passed with them all having a fun time, laughing and joking among themselves.

"So, what is this surprise Aniki has got for Onechan?" Jinpei had started to clear the empty plates and bowls away.

"Oh yeah, so what is this big mystery then?" Ryu had forgotten that Ken had something up his sleeve, but Jun hadn't and she turned wide eyes on to her commander.

"Well," Ken looked embarrassed for a minute, but pulled the envelope from his inside pocket. "I had to ask Nambu if it was okay for me to do this, because technically they weren't mine, but he said he couldn't see a problem so..." He handed the envelope across to Jun. "Happy birthday."

Taking the envelope she excitedly ripped it open and pulled out two tickets and gave out a gasp when she read them. They were premier seats for a show she had wanted to see since it had opened almost a year earlier.

"How on earth did you get these?" she exclaimed, delighted, as Ryu and Jinpei looked on expectantly. "They must have cost a fortune."

"It's a bit of a long story, but Joe cared for an elderly lady he'd accidentally hit with his car, and she tried to thank him with those. Unfortunately she didn't see him gain, so her son brought them here to pass on to him."

"And you're giving them to onechan because Joe is..."

"Yeah, and that's why I spoke to Hakase first, although I think if Joe did have them, he would have done the same. It's not his type of thing."

"So who're you taking then?" The Swallow wanted to know.

"I didn't think you'd be interested in that sort of thing," Ryu said, mockingly. "Ya know it's all singing and dancing and stuff, don't ya? And they wouldn't let you in dressed like that anyway, these sort of places have a dress code."

Jun looked down at her civilian uniform. "You're right, I'd better get changed. How long have I got?"

"Not long enough..." Jinpei teased, earning himself a slap across the back of his head from Ryu.

"About an hour until doors open." Ken called after her as she grabbed her gift box and raced upstairs.

"Yeah, we'll clean up around here," Ryu decided, "then the squirt and I will go back to mine and play some video games."

"I'll bet we'll have a better time than you, aniki."

From Jun's position, it was the perfect evening. Her new dress fitted perfectly, and while Ken didn't comment, his face when she returned to the diner spoke volumes. They hired a taxi to the theatre and arrived at the venue in good time to find their seats, just four rows from the front. She was conscious of admiring glances from other men in the auditorium, which Ken was either oblivious to or was fastidiously ignoring.

She loved the show, and quietly sung along with the songs she knew, although she could tell the live performance wasn't Ken's idea of entertainment, but to his credit he had refrained from making any comments or criticisms about what he was watching. He had even purchased a large soda for them to share during the interval. She was beginning to with the evening would never end.

Unfortunately all too soon the performance came to it's dramatic conclusion, the cast took their final bows and the curtains fell for the last time. Jun expected her date to make a bolt for the exit, and she was pleasantly surprised when he made his way calmly to the aisle and held out his arm for her to hold, which she graciously accepted, and they followed the crowd out into the cool evening air.

Jun shivered slightly as they made their way to a nearby taxi rank, and Ken, always the perfect gentleman, removed his jacket to drape it over her shoulders. Jun pulled it around her, smiling her thanks as they joined the queue with other theatre patrons waiting for cars.

"You've been really quiet tonight, is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine," he told her. "This is your day, I didn't want to say anything that might spoil it for you."

"I've had a wonderful time, thank you."

"Good." He put an arm across her shoulder, holding her close to him. "Have I told you you look beautiful tonight? That dress really suits you."

"You're looking very smart yourself." If Ken was going to reply, he didn't get a chance as two cars pulled up at that moment. The group of people in front of them in the line took the first, leaving them to get into the second. He opened the door for Jun to get in, closing it firmly as soon as she was seated, then walked around to get in himself. He reversed the actions once the car pulled up outside the J.

As Jun fished in her bag for the keys, a light rain began to fall. Now it was Ken's turn to shiver. Jun soon had the door unlocked and let herself in. Ken waited at the door.

"You're not coming in?"

"I think I should be going home."

"At least stay until the rain passes over, it's not that late." She made a show of looking at her bracelet like a watch. "I'll make some coffee." Finally he stepped over the threshold and Jun took his hand, leading him upstairs to the little apartment above. While Jun switched on the coffee machine she found herself humming a tune from the show.

"You know," Ken said as he went through Jun's collection of Blu-Rays, "The story wasn't that bad tonight. If it wasn't for the musical numbers, I might have enjoyed it. Orphan gets fostered by millionaire, but still wants to find birth parents, instead falls into the hands of a band of crooks. I suppose we can relate to that."

"I believe there is a movie version, but I don't know if it has the songs in it or not."

"Maybe I'll look out for it online." Ken used the tone of voice that made Jun doubt he ever would. She passed him his mug and sat herself down on the sofa, as the rain pattered heavily against the window.

"You might as well choose something, it doesn't look like the weather's going to improve anytime soon."

Ken gave up on the movies and put the radio on instead, and the room filled with soulful music, until the song came to an end and the presenter replaced it with inane chatter of advertisements. Ken finally sat down and took a drink of his coffee. "You've had a good day then?" he asked, not knowing what else to talk about. He earned a smile in response.

"It started off a bit shaky, but it improved considerably as time went on."

"I feel I should apologise for that whole mission thing..."

"Why? It turned out to be quite productive in the end."

"It did?"

"Yeah, didn't Nambu tell you?"

"You hadn't returned when I spoke to him." Jun filled him in on her mission report, and when she finished Ken looked at her with a sense of wonder. "You are brilliant, you know."

"I guess it makes up for my useless training session this morning."

"I never said you were useless, far from it, the skills are still there, you're just out of practice." He put an arm around her and held her close. "We couldn't function as a team without you."

"You really believe that?"

He tilted her face so he could look her straight in the eye, "You are so important to us... to me. I don't know if I would cope without you." He leaned in and brushed her lips with his own. Shocked at his behaviour he went to grab his jacket and might have left, but Jun's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Ken...?" She moved nearer to him, her heart racing as she returned his kiss with a passion that made them both dizzy. She pressed against him, leving no room for doubt of her wishes, as she felt every ripple of muscle under his shirt, and more noticeably the growing bulge in his groin. She invited him to do what he wished with her.

"Are you sure..." he whispered as his lips trailed from her mouth down her neck, but she couldn't speak, she responded by tugging at the waistband of his pants, and freed his straining erection, and eliciting a groan when she put her hand around the shaft and massaged gently. He in turn hitched up the hem of her dress above her waist and pulled her panties down to her ankles, his fingers now exploring the secrets he had often wished to discover. She directed him to the magic spot that made her tingle through every part of her body, and gyrated her hips against his hand to increase her pleasure until her emotion came crashing around her. She felt his fingers probed deep inside her and she gasped and writhed under his ministrations until he could hold back no longer.

Carefully he laid her back on the sofa and positioned himself above. Separating her knees she guided his throbbing member to the desired orifice, and he gently entered her. They moved smoothly together, slowly at first, then faster as the tension built up culminating in explosive orgasms that left them both panting for breath.

For long moments neither of them moved, They held each other close, basking in the aftermath of their exertions.

"That was... unexpected." Ken spoke eventually, after his pulse had slowed sufficiently.

"Nice though."

"Very nice."

Jun giggled. "So where do we go from here?" Ken glanced towards the window. The weather outside now matched the recent passion that had just passed between them, with lightening flashing, illuminating the sky beyond, closely followed with deep rumbles of thunder. "And I'm not going to send you home in that."

He sat up and straightened his clothing, as Jun tidied her dress. Digging through his pockets, he pulled out a coin.

"What's that for?"

"Heads or tails." He suggested. "You win then you call the next shot, lose, and I go home."

"Tails." she called, and lost. "Best of three." She snatched the coin out of his hand. She won the next two turns and Ken conceded defeat. "This is fun," she declared and tossed the coin again.

"Heads." he called, but the coin turned up tails. "So what do I have to do now?"

Jun gave a tug at his tie. "Take this off." she told him, and giggled when he willingly complied. The next two turns she had him remove his shoes and shirt.

"You're too good at this." he grumbled as he took his turn.

"Tails." she guessed, wrongly. "I can't win them all." she went to remove her shoes when Ken stopped her.

"Let's take this into the bedroom." He grinned as she took his hand and led the way.

My turn again." she sat on the edge of her bed and tossed the silver disc into the air, catching it deftly before Ken could see how it landed.

"Tails."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, absolutely."

She opened her hand to show him the coin, tails side up.

"Now you can take your shoes off." Ken won twice more, and Jun sat naked before him.

"I suppose this means you've won?"

"Who said we're finished?" He tossed the coin again.

"Heads," she said, wondering where he was going. She lost and soon found out, as he inched closer to her and kissed her lips softly.

It was just the start of Ken's winning streak, and with each kiss he got more and more intimate until she was shaking under his hands.

Finally she got a win, and ordered him to remove his pants. Now they lay naked beside each other, but Ken still hadn't finished. It was his turn and he tossed it smartly. He won again.

"What do you want this time?"

"Fellatio."

Jun took a deep nervous breath and shifted herself around to accommodate him. As she took him into her mouth, he moved under her, positioning himself to return the favour, causing her to shudder with pleasure, until, gasping for breath, she had to pull away.

The coin was forgotten now. Ken turned Jun onto her front and entered her from behind. His thrusts were long, slow and powerful, each one drawing a gasp. He lifted her rump so he could go deeper with each stroke and didn't hold back. With a final yell, he filled her with everything he had, then collapsed, sated, next to her on the bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked, brushing her sweat drenched hair from her face. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Jun shook her head, mutely, and nestled into his arms.

Chuckling to himself, he covered them both with the blankets. "Happy birthday, my love." he whispered and together they drifted off to sleep.

Jun slowly opened her eyes. Bright sunlight filtered through the curtains as she yawned and stretched, her brain rebooting with a glance of the clock. Had the day before actually happened or had t all been just a wonderful dream? She sat up, scratching her head with confusion as the blanket fell away, and she realised she was still naked, but there was no sign of Ken. A scan of the floor around the bed yielded a crumpled, emerald green dress, and co-ordinating shoes.

Yesterday HAD happened.

She hugged her pillow with glee.


End file.
